City of San Fernando, Pampanga—Based on DepEd’s Learner Information System (LIS), Senior High School (SHS) enrollment in Central Luzon reached 144,044 as of June 24, or 3.16% higher than the projected 139,631 Grade 11 enrollees in public and private senior high schools. A total of 72,200 SHS students are enrolled in the public school, 70,071 in private schools and 1,773 in SUCs. These figures are expected to increase since enrollment period has been extended until June 30.

Program offerings available for SHS students to choose from include four (4) strands under the Academic track: Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and General Academic; the Sports track; the Arts and Design track; and various specializations under the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) track.

Figures reveal that 90,697 Grade 11 students enrolled under the Academic track, 52,903  students enrolled under the Technical-Vocational Livelihood track, 316 students enrolled under the Arts and Design track and 128 students enrolled under the Sports track.

A total 466 public schools, 639 private schools and 11 SUCs accommodated Grade 11 students this SY 2016-2017. Also, 1,659 public school SHS classrooms were constructed before the month of June. In addition, 3,888 SHS public school teachers were hired and trained.

To accommodate more Grade 10 completers to pursue Senior High School education in private schools, universities and colleges, under the voucher program, students are provided with a subsidy that enables them to get a discount on the cost of tuition and other school fees for their senior high school studies.

Meanwhile a total of 134,269 kindergarten, 1,105,855 elementary and 655,738 junior high school enrolled in public schools this school year. On the other hand, 21,181 kindergarten, 86,011 elementary and 142,303 junior high school enrolled in private schools.

DepEd Region III OIC-Regional Director, Malcolm S. Garma and OIC-Assistant Regional Director, Dr. Nicolas T. Capulong spearheaded the Oplan Balik Eskwela in Central Luzon. They  ensured that public schools were clean, safe, disaster-prepared and conducive to learning prior to the opening of classes last June 13.•